Another Cunning Challenge. The prompt was "Write a piece focusing on any character with the song Walk by the Foo Fighters as inspiration" from Sungrasswriter. This was a different kind of prompt for me, but I think I did OK.
Taiyang felt the morning sunlight on his face and slowly cracked his eyes open. The blinds were open just enough to let that tiny bit of light in. Inches from his face, illuminated from behind by the dawn's first light, she lay, still sleeping. But as soon as Tai began to stir, her eyes fluttered open, and he found himself staring into two beautiful pools of silver.
"Hey," whispered Tai, voice still scratchy from sleep.
"Hi," Summer whispered back, her melodic voice sounding perfect.
Tai leaned forward and kissed her slowly. He thought her lips must have been the softest things that had ever existed. When he pulled away, he found her wearing a smile of utter bliss.
"We've got some time before the girls wake up," Summer whispered playfully.
"Oh yeah?" asked Tai with a glance over his shoulder at the door of their bedroom. "You have something in mind?"
When he looked back at Summer, her eyes were unfocused. He reached a hand out and touched her shoulder, but she didn't react.
"Summer?" Tai whispered. He shook her slightly, but still there was no response. Blood began to leak from her mouth in a narrow stream. "Summer!"
Tai opened his eyes and sat upright, breathing heavily. He looked beside him, but Summer wasn't there. He wasn't even in the bed that they had shared. He'd fallen asleep on the couch, just as he had every night since his wife died.
He laid his head back down as the tears began to leak from his eyes. She came to him in his dreams almost every night, and he always fell for it. He always believed that she was there with him, and then he lost her again as soon as he woke up.
"Daddy?" called a tiny voice from the stairway.
"Go back to bed, Yang," Tai called back, turning over onto his side.
"But Daddy, it's morning," Yang replied softly.
Tai reached a hand out to grab his scroll from the living room table. He opened it and found that Yang was right. Not only was it morning, but it was half an hour later than he was supposed to get up.
Slowly Tai dragged himself up from the couch and into the kitchen to make coffee. He meandered through a breakfast of coffee and some fruit before heading towards the door. It wouldn't be the first time that week he skipped a shower and wore the same clothes he had the day before. His clothes were all in their bedroom, and he didn't feel capable of going in there that morning.
"Daddy?" Yang called as Tai walked past her towards the front door. He looked down and met her lilac eyes.
"You've got your sister today, alright?" Tai asked. Yang nodded, and he left without another word, walking mechanically down the path towards Signal.
The day went by as slowly as any day before, but it was still too fast for Tai to notice any of it. His lectures were a whole lot of nothing. His papers sat ungraded. He didn't talk with any of the other teachers, not even Qrow. Finally he found himself shuffling back home, literally dragging his feet.
The first thing he did when he reached the cottage was sink back down onto the couch, feeling exhausted. He figured he'd probably microwave a frozen meal for dinner, or else order delivery. Maybe he'd let Yang pick.
"Yang!" he called out. "Ruby!"
It took Tai a second to realize that there hadn't been a response. When he did he stood up and called again. Still there was nothing.
Tai stalked through the house, yelling his daughters' names. He checked everywhere inside and outside the cottage before finally coming to his bedroom. He hesitated for a moment before pushing open the door. No one was there.
Panic began to set in and the world seemed to spin around him. Tai had to force it to stop before pulling out his scroll and bringing up Qrow's contact. He placed the call and immediately began tapping his foot with impatience.
"Hey," Qrow greeted after the third ring.
"The girls are missing," Tai blurted out immediately.
"What?" the former bandit cried, the sound of movement clear in the background.
"I came home, and they weren't here," Tai explained hurriedly.
Qrow groaned, and Tai could make out the sound of him running. "Would they go to the cliff?"
"I don't know," Tai replied, knowing that Qrow meant to Summer's grave.
Then he noticed something on the floor by his nightstand. Bending down he saw it was a broken picture frame. The photograph was missing, but he recognized the frame immediately.
"Raven," he whispered.
"She didn't take them, Tai," Qrow snapped.
"I know that," Tai snapped back. "But Yang has the photo of us in the old house."
"Dammit, you never should have her about Raven!" Qrow hissed.
Tai bit back a retort before yelling "Just go, now! I'll meet you there!"
He ended the call as he dashed out of the house, drawing on his Aura to grant him superhuman endurance. The house in the photograph was halfway across Patch. It would have taken all day for a little girl like Yang to reach it, especially if Ruby was with her. Fortunately it wasn't so terribly far as the crow flies.
Taiyang had been sprinting for half an hour when he caught sight of them coming the other way. Qrow was carrying Ruby with one arm and holding Yang's hand with the other. When she saw her father, Yang broke away from Qrow and ran towards him with tears pouring down her face.
Tai reached his daughter at full speed and scooped her up into his arms. He held her as tight as he could while she bawled into his chest. A few of his own tears worked their way down his cheeks.
"Daddy!" called Ruby excitedly from Qrow's arms. "Uncle Qrow killed all the monsters!" Tai's eyes widened as he met his brother-in-law's gaze.
"Beowolves," Qrow explained. "Half a dozen of them. If I'd been a minute later…" Tai's face went white as Qrow trailed off.
Completely failing to read the mood, Ruby continued to babble about Qrow slaying the creatures of Grimm as they walked home. Yang eventually stopped crying, but she remained silent for the rest of the evening. Tai got them carry-out burgers and put the girls to bed as soon as they were done eating.
It was dusk when he joined Qrow outside the cottage. The former bandit was facing the woods, visibly seething. Tai started to speak, but Qrow whirled around and decked him in the mouth before he could get a word out. Tai collapsed to the ground as his brother-in-law shouted at him.
"You don't get to just shut down this anymore!"
Tai looked up, anger building inside him. Then he forced himself to take a breath.
"I know. I need to do better."
"And?" growled Qrow.
"And I will. Starting now, I will."
"Good," Qrow snarled, pointing at the cottage. "Because those two are the only good thing left in my life, and I am notlosing them!"
Tai picked himself up as Qrow stalked off into the woods. He went back inside the house and glanced at the couch. He stared at it for a moment before sighing and walking upstairs to his bedroom.
Tai felt exhausted when he woke to the sound of his scroll's alarm. He'd spent most of the night lying awake in the bed that he used to share with Summer. All he wanted to do was turn over and go back to sleep. He laid there for a while, just listening as the alarm grew steadily louder, before finally dragging himself upright and turning it off.
He showered quickly and got dressed before going downstairs and turning on the stove. He began pulling ingredients from the cupboards and refrigerator and mixing them into a bowl. He walked over to the stairs while whisking and called out "Breakfast!"
Tai blinked as he realized how dead his voice had sounded. He forced himself to smile and tried again.
"Yang, Ruby, come down for breakfast!" he yelled cheerfully. He returned to the kitchen as soon as he heard them rising from their beds.
By the time the girls came downstairs there was a short stack of chocolate chip pancakes on each of their plates. Ruby immediately ran to her seat, but Yang walked up to her father first, trembling slightly.
"Daddy," she whispered.
Tai bent down to eye level with her.
"We'll talk about it when I get home from school," he said softly. "Can you look after your sister today?"
Yang nodded.
"It's all right if you can't," Tai added. "I could take the day off."
Yang shook her head. "I'll be OK."
Tai nodded and kissed her on the forehead. Yang sat down beside her sister and began eating.
Tai stood up and leaned against one of the counters, staring off into space. After a moment he realized he was zoning out, and checked on the girls. Yang was helping Ruby cut her pancakes. Tai watched her for a moment before remembering that it was his job to take care of that. He stepped in and finished cutting Ruby's pancakes, allowing Yang to go back to her own meal.
After that he took a couple of pancakes for himself and dug in. They were nowhere near as good as Summer's cookies, but they were still pretty good. Eventually, as he was sitting there eating breakfast with his daughters, Tai realized that he was smiling. He wasn't forcing himself this time.